Cut off from Civilisation for Four Hours

Continued from Part 1…

Today’s plan was to visit Holy Island (including Lindisfarne Priory and Lindisfarne Castle), then swing by Bamburgh Castle on the way back to Alnwick as soon as it was safe to cross the causeway again.

Holy Island

Holy Island is only accessible by boat, or by a causeway that is under water at high tide. So we had to get across before 10:20, and could only return after 14:45 today, cutting us off from all civilisation, and stranding us on a small island to fend for ourselves! Apart from the several cafes, pubs, and shops.

The website made a huge deal of the tidal times, saying you should arrive thirty minutes before the set time to get across, but there was no traffic (off-season), so we were all parked up and had walked into the town by 10am.

Lindisfarne Priory

We arrived at the priory just before it opened, so were the second two to get into the ruins. It’s a nice little ruin with a church right next to it, set against a beautiful backdrop. I’ll say the best part of Holy Island is probably that anything you look at is set against a beautiful backdrop, so I’ll try not to mention it too much during this blog.

Helen bet me £5 that the statue to the left of the picture above was Saint Cuthbert, but it wasn’t, it was Saint Aiden. So she owes me £5. Naturally, I bought all the tickets, drinks, food, and cake while on the island, so I’m hoping to see that £5 soon!

The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII, and a lot of the stones from it were used to build Lindisfarne castle.

From here, we went to a local café called Chare Ends Café, got a stale piece of cake that was quickly replaced by a fresh piece (very nice staff), then sat outside watching the birds, which all got very close to us, obviously interested in our leftovers.

I think these are dunnocks, house sparrows, and a starling in the background, although I’m no twitcher, this was just from a 15 second google staring at a British garden birds poster.

From the cafe, we went for a walk around the outside of the Priory grounds to get some nice pictures.

Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Castle was also visible from pretty much everywhere on the island, being on a rocky outcrop it stuck out like a sore thumb! Especially with nothing around it; no houses, no shops, no trees. Just a rock with a castle on top.

We took the windy path around and up the hill, and eventually reached the entrance. Once again, the views were stunning all around.

The interior was nicely laid out, surprisingly not a lot of barriers or signs not to touch things, so I’m assuming we could’ve jumped on the beds if we wanted! It was only remodelled into its current layout at the turn of the 20th century by the man who started Country Life magazine.

The castle has flip-flopped between being a home and a military structure for hundreds of years, changing role every time there’s a war nearby it seems. So it’s got some cannon, some nice bedrooms, a pillbox, and a lovely dining room. But most of all, it has great views!

We walked back to the town in time for some lunch, stopping at the Manor House Inn. I had scampi and chips, Helen had a crab sandwich. It was extremely expensive for what it was, obviously tourist prices, but it was nice enough, and we sat in the shadow of the priory. Just as we were leaving, a naughty seagull took the leftovers of Helen’s crab sandwich!

We had about ninety minutes to kill before the tide was out enough to cross the causeway again, so we headed back to the café we went to before for a little ice cream, then saw a wet post van arrive and realised they over-egged the crossing times. We got in the car, and drove back over the slightly damp causeway.

Bamburgh Castle

SUV drivers crossing the Holy Island causeway seemed to be worried about getting their tyres wet, but we got back onto the mainland and drove down to Bamburgh. There’s a moment when driving on the B1342 towards Bamburgh where the castle reveals itself on the horizon, and it’s pretty breath-taking. Both Helen and I said “wow” in unison as we turned the corner towards it.

I dropped Helen off in Bamburgh town, then went onto the castle alone. She was castled-out, so wanted to sit in a pub or café with a drink and a book. My legs and feet were also done with castles, but my heart wasn’t, so I ventured onwards!

Bamburgh Castle, like Alnwick Castle, is another half-castle, half-stately-home. It had all the ramparts, gun batteries, wards, and towers of a castle, but with a keep full of state rooms, ornaments, and exhibitions.

I was told the staterooms would close first and it was already 3pm, so I went there straight away. The rooms were stunning, particularly the King’s Hall, which was double-height with wooden ceilings.

The armoury was kitted out with a lot of weaponry and suits of armour.

But all the way through, there were lots of strange animals dressed up in clothes in various situations. I think a couple of them were from Aesop’s Fables, like the Tortoise and the Hare. Some of them looked very bizarre, and there didn’t seem to be any explanation for them either. They were just… There!

Down in the belly of the keep, there was a cramped dungeon with really low ceilings that was playing scary sounds and screams! Definitely the sort of place that would’ve terrified me when I was younger.

Anyway. Back outside, I now had time to walk around the castle walls, gazing out onto the beautiful surroundings.

Right in the distance of this next image, at the top near the middle, you can see Lindisfarne Castle back on Holy Island. I also had no idea what these ruins were at the bottom of the back of the castle, but they looked interesting.

At this rear part of the castle, there was a Vickers, Armstrong, and Aviation museum which I then explored. The first thing I learned here was that Armstrong Whitworth was a great inventor. The second thing I learnt was that he built weapons and ships for everyone on all sides of all the wars. For example, he built ships for the British, the Americans, the Chinese, the Russians, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Norway, Siam, Turkey, and whoever would pay well enough!

There were also wreckages from various planes, namely spitfires, which showed how big the engines and propellers were compared to the cockpit.

Also, I really liked this model of a tank (I love a good model), and despite my fascination of war machines, I’d never heard of this; Vickers-Armstrong light tank from WWI:

I took a leisurely stroll back around the battery terrace, then back to the car to go meet Helen and take us back to the flat.

Back down at ground level, I wanted to get a good picture of the castle in full, so when I grabbed Helen, I jumped out of the car and snapped this picture.

From here we drove back to the flat, Helen jumped in the bath, and I went to the chippy to get us some tea. Helen told me there was a special food in the North-East known as a “parmo”, which is chippy-food, a breaded chicken breast covered in cheese and some other topping, so naturally we had to get one of those. It was delicious! Sorry we forgot to take pictures, but the chippy across the road from our AirBNB (West Gate Fish and Chips) was very tasty!

Tomorrow it’s more castle-hunting for me, and a shopping trip to Edinburgh for Helen!